I just read via MetsBlog, that Adam Rubin of ESPN New York expects the Mets to send Jenrry Mejia back to the minor leagues when they promote RA Dickey from Triple-A Buffalo to start in place of Oliver Perez on Wednesday. 

Top prospect Jenrry Mejia, whose dazzling Grapefruit League performance prompted the Mets to place him on the Opening Day roster as a reliever, is expected to head to the minors to resume being used as a starting pitcher. That could be timed with R.A. Dickey’s activation before Wednesday’s start, a team source told ESPNNewYork.com.

The decision is believed to have been affirmed during Monday’s meeting at Turner Field that included chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon, GM Omar Minaya, assistant GM John Ricco and manager Jerry Manuel. Top prospect Jenrry Mejia, whose dazzling Grapefruit League performance prompted the Mets to place him on the Opening Day roster as a reliever, is expected to head to the minors to resume being used as a starting pitcher. That could be timed with R.A. Dickey’s activation before Wednesday’s start, a team source told ESPNNewYork.com.

What is most odd to me was that last week there was speculation that Mejia would be sent to the minors and return in a month as a starting pitcher. But when Jerry Manuel was asked to comment on that rumor, he said that Mejia would be in the bullpen for the rest of the 2010 season, but he would be expected to return as a starting pitcher in 2011.

My concern is this…

Mejia is having a decent season pitching out of the pen posting a respectable 2.60 ERA in 18 relief appearances. Why take him out of his element now, and what is the guarantee that Mejia would succeed or better yet, survive as a starting pitcher at this level?

The last time Mejia started was in AA-Binghamton where he was torched to the tune of a 4.45 ERA and 1.51 WHIP.

When the Mets made the decision to bring him up north as a reliever, they themselves said that his secondary pitchers were not refined enough to be a starter. Do they really expect him to go down, stretch his arm out, learn how to throw a changeup, and improve his secondary offerings in four weeks? Or eight weeks? Or twelve?

Sounds like a move made mostly out of desperation than for the good of the team or Jenrry Mejia. The Washington Nationals own the best pitching prospect in the world, who is infinitely better than Jenrry Mejia in Stephen Strasburg, and even they were smart enough to know he needed to refine his secondary pitches which are already better than anything Mejia can serve up to the plate.

I just think this is a big mistake at this point, and one that could have been avoided had the Mets simply signed a starting pitcher in the offseason in the first place… as any knowledgeable baseball person would have told you they needed to do.